Irony of the Week

posted at 6:00 pm on March 6, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

For more than two weeks, we’ve seen the unions organize massive protests in Madison, Wisconsin, while their friends in the media demonize Koch Industries and its owners, Charles and David Koch. My friends John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson have done a marvelous job at Power Line deconstructing the fever-swamp allegations against the Koch brothers, as well as the inherent hypocrisy of organizations like Think Progress hyperventilating about big-money activists in politics. (George Soros is one of the big donors to the Center for American Progress, which runs Think Progress.) Just try to hit near the top of Power Line and keep reading; the pair have done yeomans’ work over the last two weeks on this subject, which we’ve headlined during that period.

But it’s probably no surprise to see John and Scott defend Koch Industries and the Koch brothers, since they share (as I do) their political philosophies. It is interesting to see who else endorses Koch Industries by putting their money where their mouths clearly are not:

According to the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB), the Wisconsin Retirement System owns $5.5 million in Georgia Pacific corporate bonds. (Georgia Pacific is owned by Koch Industries.) This is the retirement system in which the overwhelming majority of state and local employees participate. These are the pension benefits that public employees are trying so hard to protect. …

Granted, $5.5 million out of a $18.5 billion fixed-income bond fund isn’t a whole lot. (The state also holds about $5 million worth of Colgate bonds, meaning it is in the pocket of Big Toothpaste.) But one imagines the public unions’ vitriol will soften a little bit when they realize their retirement payout is incumbent on the success of the Kochs. They’re all part of the same money-making ecosystem, despite many state employees believing all their retirement funds are invested exclusively in dreams and rainbows.

So in the end, public unions should recognize that the real Koch will do them a lot more good than the fake one ever did.

As John wrote, the unions and their political allies have spent much of the last couple of weeks attacking Koch, and specifically Georgia Pacific, as horrid stewards of Gaia as part of the Massive Industrialization Complex. They’re trying to use economic pressure to get the Koch brothers to retreat from politics, which is at the very least hardball, if not unsporting. But the people that economic pressure will harm includes the very teachers on the picket lines in Wisconsin, because if the share prices in GP go down, then so does their pension funding, at least in some small measure.

This was a good one, it shows just how little the Unions actually understand about “today’s” world.

It’s the proverbial “

Cutting off the nose to spite the face

“!

Apparently the Unions were just as clueless as “MoveOn” & “ThinkProgress” when Soros used them to drive down Halliburton stock, then Soros bought 2 million shares for $62 million!

That HA peddles the fiction that the interests of the Koch brothers and ordinary working Americans coincide.

American union membership in the private sector has in recent years fallen under 9%

In 2010, the union membership rate–the percent of wage and salary workers who were
members of a union–was 11.9 percent, down from 12.3 percent a year earlier, the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

American union membership private sector under 9%
American union membership TOTAL 11.9 %

Surprise! You side with corporations every time. Every single time. What’s the real irony of the week? That HA peddles the fiction that the interests of the Koch brothers and ordinary working Americans coincide. Puke.

Grow Fins on March 6, 2011 at 6:06 PM

GF believes that contributions to pension funds–whether on behalf of public or private unions–is invested in the magical, mystical money mattress administered by the pension fund trustee.

Maybe if union members (again, private or public) had defined-contribution plans (with a segregated account that assets of which they’d invested) rather than defined-benefit plans, they’d start to see that they have a stake in this country and the health and growth of our economy. Perhaps, then, teachers, for example, would see their students not merely as future taxpayers who will pay for their pension and their retiree health coverage, which almost no one gets anymore, but instead as future employees of businesses that improve their standard of living and increase the value of their retirement pots.

One of my forebears was a signer of the Declaration of Independence…of Texas.

Yee-ha!

S. Weasel on March 6, 2011 at 7:50 PMTEXAS PROUD.
Two Reed’s ,MY PEOPLE,(sorry eric holder), fought and survived The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836.
We hold FREEDOM very dear and will pray for fins,”bless it’s little heart.”
.
Now , unions had a time and a place but even FDR saw and said in the public sector NFW.On this topic FDR was right.The unions keep biting the hand that feeds them,even Michael the Bloated One does not use union labor on his films.Fins can explain The Bloated One I am sure?

Looks like it’s almost over. Gov. Walker’s going to win and get his vote while dems are going to hope that, based on recent polls, the public is on their side and that this anger will last until the next election cycle. I think they’ve drastically miscalculated on that, but at least these bums are going to go back and do their representative duty and vote:

Democratic Sen. Mark Miller said the Democrats intend to let the full Senate vote and potentially pass Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget-repair” bill, which would also limit public unions’ collective bargaining rights. The Democrats believe that the measure lacks voter support based on recent polls and that passage could hurt Republicans politically, Mr. Miller said.

Democratic Sen. Mark Miller said the Democrats intend to let the full Senate vote and potentially pass Gov. Scott Walker’s “budget-repair” bill, which would also limit public unions’ collective bargaining rights. The Democrats believe that the measure lacks voter support based on recent polls and that passage could hurt Republicans politically, Mr. Miller said.

Weight of Glory on March 6, 2011 at 8:25 PM
.
This mean they have run out of other peoples money????

Heh. My child has a BA, MBA, and JD. I suggest you ditch the fins and crawl out of the swamp.

Dr. Dog on March 6, 2011 at 6:22 PM

Wow, the things money can buy these days.

Grow Fins on March 6, 2011 at 6:23 PM

After GF hadn’t gotten so huffy about being asked what he or she did for a living, I thought his response to Dr. Dog’s comment was interesting.

GF, attendance at universities that confer BAs, MBAs, and JDs is certainly paid for. But those degrees are earned, not purchased. Shame on you for trying to diminish the accomplishments of Dr. Dog’s child. To suggest that post-secondary-school degrees are conferred by mere purchase and attendance is beneath contempt.

Here is something for fins to chew on. I asked the CDS chief domestic scientists how much we had tied up in the new JD
Her answer, it was a cash deal somewhat less than the sticker. That is wife speak for a lot less. So if fins thinks working is easy here is the list on one of the farm corps units.New John Deere 9030 Series Tractors
$230,188.32. We could get a bunch of Bimmers for that amount of money.We still use the 75 Chevy C10 for fence work.
Now for the kids benefit it takes a lot of capitol investment to get our crops to his table,and a whole hell of a lot of Diesel fuel that we buy from the enemy.
We always think in terms of feeding the country and sometimes, just a little bit, we would gladly let libs n hippies go hungry.Not a real charitable thought but honest,we sometime wonder how folks like fins would do if they had to hunt and gather after they destroy our Nation.

If the protesters/WI public employees want to WALK THE WALK, they should immediately review their investment instruments and DIVEST THEMSELVES of any offensive holdings (like, in their opinion, Koch Brothers)… Then buy into Michael Moore’s company, GE, Lamestream Media (ABC, NBC, CBS, etc. if available)… Go green! Go liberal! Resurrect Air America!

and I mean IMMEDIATELY… or STFU…

And a word of advice to Governor Walker: the time for ANY more negotiation with the fleebaggers is long past! Pass your bills, send out your layoff notices, and move on… BTW, now is the time to pass ANY legislation not connected with money/budget… MAKE THE fleebaggers PAY BY THEIR ABSENCE and keep their paychecks locked away in the well of the Senate!!

With every day that passes, I hate your type of ignorance all the more.

This country used to be able to afford to have a slice of the populace be as stupid as you are, but nowadays, your ilk are destroying the economy and the country’s future with your moronic-but-absolutely-sure-you-know-what-you’re-talking-about-despite-the-f@#$ing-evidence lack of mentality.

So is Michael Moore’s production company, Dog Eat Dog Films, Inc.
Del Dolemonte on March 6, 2011 at 7:11 PM

That is pretty dang ironic in itself…
Considering that the looters and moochers that he so loves, passed the ANTI-Dog Eat Dog Act in Atlas Shrugs, to be used against the competent industrialists, which he hates.

Y’all finish it off, I have the dawn patrol at 0430 so it is time to hit the rack.
It will crawl off and lick it’s fin then Katy can explain to it what Southern Charm and some hot boiling butter with some good seasoning can do to seafood.
Sure was fun tonight jackin it around,
Y’all done good.
OVER and out!

Surprise! You side with corporations every time. Every single time. What’s the real irony of the week? That HA peddles the fiction that the interests of the Koch brothers and ordinary working Americans coincide. Puke.

Grow Fins on March 6, 2011 at 6:06 PM

Sweetie, political activism is a miniscule part of where the Koch industries spend their funds. Most of their moneys go toward cancer research and cultural/philanthropic causes. Read the Powerlineblog links to learn some facts.

I have to laugh at the stupidity of some of the public sector retirees who scorn corporations. A colleague who yaps constantly about BIG OIL as the biggest evil since creation had to learn that a chunk of her teacher retirement comes from investments in Exxon. Stupid is as stupid does. And, yes, she still blindly worships Al Gore.

The Human Blob is all for unions if he can get some free press but not for on the job use,Huh?
. Just when you think they can’t make themselves look any worse, Michael Moore shows up. He thinks unions are great… except when he doesn’t.